The sale of one of the busiest container terminals at the Port of Long Beach – and in all of North America – has drawn interest from two large firms based in New York and two international investment groups.

Last month, it was announced that COSCO – Chinese owner of the Long Beach Container Terminal – had plans to sell the massive terminal in a process that would start in December. On Tuesday, Dec. 11, people familiar with the matter – who asked not to be identified because the information is private – told Bloomberg News that investment firms Blackstone Group LP and KKR & Co. are potential buyers.

Additionally, Sweden-based equity group EQT Partners and an arm of Macquarie Group Ltd., an investment banking group based in Australia, have also been studying a deal for the asset, the people said. The facility is valued at $1 billion or more, depending on the structure of a deal, the people said.

The nearly 200-acre facility imports a wide variety of goods — such as appliances and other electronics, garments, and furniture — from China, Taiwan and other Asian countries. Five unions have employees there, from longshoremen to clerks; and along with its sister terminal in Taiwan, it sees about 2.7 million containers go through it each year. So it represents significant economic output.

And while the Port of Long Beach is a landlord for the facility, the port is not a party to the process of selling the lease agreement, spokesman Lee Peterson said in an email Thursday.

“(The Long Beach Container Terminal) is an important and advanced facility at the port,” he added, “and we will continue to monitor for developments of the process.”

Suitors for the terminal were asked to submit their interest last week, according to the people. COSCO, the Chinese state-owned shipping giant, agreed to sell it to obtain U.S. regulators’ approval for its acquisition of rival container-shipping line Orient Overseas International Ltd. The U.S. government, for antitrust and security reasons, is allowed to step in an regulate mergers and one of the conditions of the merger was that it had to sell the Long Beach Container Terminal. Mainly, because the U.S. government didn’t want a foreign power controlling one of America’s most important shipping terminals.

COSCO agreed in July to sell the terminal to get American approval for the merger.

Deliberations are at an early stage, and there’s no certainty they will result in a transaction, the people said. Representatives for Blackstone, EQT, KKR and Macquarie declined to comment. A representative for COSCO referred Bloomberg queries to OOIL, which didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

It’s unclear whether Blackstone’s infrastructure fund is pursuing a deal with or without the involvement of its largest investor, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Bloomberg News reported in October that the kingdom may abstain from transactions or be excused by Blackstone if its participation would impede deals from receiving U.S. regulatory approval.

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Emily covers education and development for the Long Beach Press-Telegram. A native of Long Beach, Emily is an alumna of the Cal State Long Beach Journalism Department. Prior to joining the Press-Telegram, Emily was city editor of The Capistrano Dispatch in San Juan Capistrano, a contributing writer for the Orange County Register and the news editor for The Edge in Long Beach.